


Unwelcome Guest

by deliriumbubbles



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriumbubbles/pseuds/deliriumbubbles
Summary: AU post S3 Extinction. Restless spirits haunt the mansion, forcing Lex to reveal secrets he had hoped to keep hidden forever.





	Unwelcome Guest

Clark couldn’t really explain how he’d managed to be there when Lex had fallen from one of the ledges of the castle, but then again, he wondered if Lex was going to explain why he had been up there in the first place. Instead Lex stared up at him as though in a daze, and both of their hearts pounded wildly.  
  
“Lex?” Clark asked. Lex’s gray eyes were unfocused, and Clark was becoming genuinely worried that Lex had gotten hurt somehow. “Lex?”  
  
“I can hear you,” Lex murmured, blinking slowly.  
  
“Are you drunk?”  
  
Lex said nothing, but leaned his head against Clark’s shoulder. Clark shifted Lex up bit higher. Having Lex this close made him feel funny in a way that could get embarrassing. Tight pants or things on fire.  
  
“He’s singing to me…” Lex curled up tighter in Clark’s arms. “She wants me out of his life.”  
  
Clark frowned and started walking away from the castle. Something was up, and he needed for Lex to be less out of it before he could figure out what. One thing was for certain: Clark wasn’t going to leave his best friend confused and alone when he’d just dropped five stories, nearly to his death.  
  


***

  
  
The next morning, Clark was staring down the barrel of his dad’s shotgun. Okay, maybe not literally, but it felt like he was. Lex had jumped up to go make breakfast and was now merrily doing so as Clark got grilled.   
  
“I don’t get what the big deal is. It was fine the last time he stayed,” Clark complained. Then, softer, “It’s not like we have to worry about him seeing anything now, you know?”  
  
Jonathan scratched the back of his head and looked at Clark uncertainly. “Still, son, some warning would be nice.”  
  
“I don’t mind sharing my bed with Lex, and you know he tries to be helpful around the house. C’mon. Last night I was barely able to get him to sleep-” Clark turned as he heard a yelp from the kitchen. He looked back at his parents then quickly ran into the kitchen, where Lex was holding his hand. Clark’s eyes bulged when he saw blood dripping. “What did you do?”  
  
Lex raised a brow as Clark came up to him and took his hand carefully. “Just cut myself. It’s fine.”  
  
“Let me run help you with that,” Martha offered, shooting Jonathan a look and slipping between them to take Lex to the first aid kit.  
  
“Don’t let the French toast burn,” Lex advised as she led him away.  
  
Jonathan looked at the breakfast on the stove doubtfully.   
  
“Sorry,” Lex apologized. “I only know how to make poached eggs.”  
  
“That’s fine, Lex. We don’t mind those. They look good.” Clark stepped in front of the pan and started tending to the eggs. “Dad, could you pour us some juice?”  
  
“Lex, you might need some stitches for this,” Martha said, looking over his hand. She was wrapping the gauze tightly, but it still didn’t look good.  
  
Lex shook his head. “It’ll be fine. I really appreciate you letting me stay the night.”  
  
“So you’ll be heading back today?” Jonathan asked, pulling out the pitcher of orange juice.  
  
A flicker of emotion crossed Lex’s face and was gone. “I think so.”  
  
“But Lex!” Clark turned, frowning. “No way. No _way_. Don’t you want to find out what’s going on at the castle first?”  
  
“No better way to do that than to go back, right?” Lex joined Clark at the stove and started putting the French toast on a plate.  
  
“But…”  
  
“But what?”  
  
“You said the castle was _haunted_ ,” Clark pointed out. His parents exchanged another look. Clark ignored them.  
  
“It is. Don’t worry, Clark. I can hold my own.” Lex gave him a smirk as he took the plate over to the kitchen table. Clark’s frown deepened.  
  


***

  
  
“I can’t tell him! It isn’t _like_ that!"  
  
The next night Clark was waiting outside when he heard Lex start yelling at someone. He sped into the study just soon enough to run around the fire that was looming over Lex’s body. Lex had passed out from the smoke inhalation and didn’t come to until Clark had him back at the farm.  
  
Lex blinked groggily. “Clark?”  
  
“Hey!” The teenager beamed, both relieved and frightened at the same time. He hugged Lex around the neck as tightly as he dared.  
  
Martha and Jonathan sighed behind them. Martha went to go put on some cocoa.  
  
“Lex, I don’t want you to go back to the castle.” Clark sat on the edge of to sofa and looked down on Lex with a pout. “Not until you know who’s attacking you.”  
  
Lex sat up and took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.”   
  
“No, you’ll be splattered. Or on fire! What did the ghosts do this time?”  
  
Lex shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Wants something from me. I don’t know… I can’t remember what was said… not exactly, but the fireplace practically exploded.”  
  
“I got that much.” Clark rolled his eyes and reached over to rub Lex’s shoulders. “Please stay?”  
  
Lex looked up at Jonathan and Martha, who was coming in with a tray of cocoa and marshmallows. “If your parents say that it’s alright.”  
  
Jonathan started to protest, but Martha nodded and handed him a warm mug. “Of course you can, Lex.”  
  
“Yes!” Clark took his own mug of cocoa and put some marshmallows in it, then grabbed a few to stick in his mouth. Lex’s shoulders relaxed slightly as he sipped his cocoa and watched Clark chewing away.  
  
“When you’re finished, put the mugs in the sink and go to bed, okay, boys?” Martha insisted, wiping her hands on her pants. She tugged on Jonathan’s sleeve and headed upstairs to leave them alone. Then Jonathon gave Lex a hard look and followed a moment later.  
  
“Somehow I get the feeling your father would rather I stayed at a hotel for the night,” Lex remarked. He let the mug warm his hands and wondered if he weren’t in part losing his mind.  
  
“Don’t be silly. Didn’t my parents say you were practically part of the family?”  
  
“Not really, Clark. I asked to be considered part of the family. There were some smiles, but I don’t think they ever agreed to anything contractually.”  
  
“Family isn’t a contract,” Clark scoffed. He took a few marshmallows. “Are you gonna do anything for Halloween? There are usually a few parties going on.”  
  
Lex took a long sip of his cocoa for effect. “I’m having enough Halloween fun as it is.”  
  
“Fine. I figured we could dress up together as something.” Clark kicked off his shoes and pulled his feet up on the couch.   
  
“Isn’t Lana having some kind of party at The Talon? You could go with her, or find a costume to match-“  
  
“Cut it out, Lex. I told you we were over.”  
  
Lex shrugged his shoulders and drank his cocoa.  
  
“I’m not mad; I just…”  
  
”No, I get it. You’ve moved on. It happens.” Lex put his feet on the coffee table. “How am I going to give pedantic advice to you now?”  
  
“Well… you don’t get it. She came up to me not too long ago and pretty much told me that she’d stopped obsessing over her dead parents to obsess over me. It was the creepiest thing I’d ever heard. Can you think of anything creepier than that?”  
  
Lex was silent for a few moments until Clark frowned and bumped his shoulder. “I can perhaps think of one thing creepier than that,” Lex whispered, an unintelligible expression crossing his face.  
  
“Oh. Yeah. Ghosts.”  
  
Lex let the moment pass and leaned over to take a few marshmallows. “I’m beginning to wish I were back on the island. The only ghosts there were my own.”  
  
“Must have been weird.”  
  
“I think I’m going insane, Clark.”  
  
Clark looked over at him incredulously. “Why would you say that, Lex?”  
  
“Um.” Lex looked into Clark’s eyes. “Ghosts. Though I have to give you credit for not assuming that I was hallucinating or lying.”  
  
”Well, yeah. Enough weird stuff has happened in this town that I’d believe almost anything was going on. Lana thought Emily Dinsmore was a ghost at first. So it could be ghosts or it could be-“  
  
“Clones of a dead nine year old?”  
  
Clark grinned. “Maybe.”  
  
“Dead nine year olds don’t make fire leap out at you. They don’t push people off of ledges.”  
  
Clark’s face grew serious. “Yeah, but there was a meteor freak who could control fire once. And remember the invisible guy?”  
  
“I do at that.” Lex closed his eyes and pointed his nose to the ceiling.   
  
”I think you’re ready to come to bed with me.”  
  
“… I am at that,” he said reluctantly.  
  
Clark laughed and took their mugs to the kitchen. When he returned, Lex was sitting with his head in his hands, rubbing over his soft scalp. Clark touched his shoulder gently and Lex went up with him.  
  
“Do you like sleeping in my pajamas?”  
  
“They remind me how incredibly tiny I am compared to you.”  
  
Clark laughed again. “We’ll have to get you at least a pair or two to keep here.”  
  
When they reached his bedroom, Clark turned around and stripped down to put on his own pajamas. When he turned back around, Lex was sitting on his bed, wearing his blue pajamas, and watching him intently. The clothes really did swallow him up.  
  
“You’re fast.”  
  
”I’ve been known to be.”  
  
Clark bounced over onto the bed and grinned. He loved having Lex sleep over. In one motion Clark grabbed Lex around the shoulders and pulled him down onto the bed.  
  
“Your plan is missing one important step,” Lex informed him, wrapped tightly in Clark’s arms.   
  
“Nuh-uh.”  
  
“Lights.”  
  
“Oh.” Clark crooked his mouth. “Stay there.”  
  
“You think I’m going to escape?”  
  
“You might.” Clark gave him a mean look as though Lex was just itching to escape him. “I can’t let you get away from me.”  
  
Lex chuckled and curled onto his side. “You’ll have to make sure that I don’t, then.”  
  
“Yep.” Clark turned off the light and jumped back in bed, pinning Lex to him with his strong arms. “And anyway, you’re safe now. No mean ghosts around to get you.”  
  
“My hero…”  
  


***

  
  
“Lex?” Clark said as Lex pulled off his gloves. It was kind of amazing how Lex was commuting to work every day and still managing to help them with some of the farm chores.  
  
“Hm?” Lex turned and leaned on the shovel he had been using.  
  
“Lemme see your hand.”  
  
Lex raised his brows when Clark came over and took his hand in his own, tenderly. “My hand?”   
  
“Oh. All healed up,” Clark muttered, gently rubbing his thumb over the spot where Lex had cut his finger the other day trying to chop up tomatoes.  
  
“I heal fast.”  
  
Clark nodded, and the unsaid was understood. He stood there for a moment, caressing and warming Lex’s hand in the silence. Lex really had the most beautiful fingers. Clark wouldn’t want them to be damaged.  
  
“Uh… boys?” Jonathan boomed coming into the barn with a large sack on his shoulder. “How about you stop standing around and help me with this?”  
  
“No problem, Mr. Kent. I have an hour before I have to be at the helicopter.” Lex withdrew his hand and hurried over to where Clark’s father stood expectantly.  
  
Clark rubbed over his own hands and sighed before joining them.  
  


***

  
  
“No… no, no, please….”   
  
Clark woke to hear Lex moaning in his sleep.  
  
“No, please, y’don’t gotta do that. We’re pals, ain’t we? I’ll go. I’ll go and never come back so’s y’don’t gotta look at me n’more…”  
  
Clark sat up straight and put a light hand on Lex’s shoulder. He was frowning in his sleep, sweating, and looking really distressed. “Lex?”  
  
“I _love_ you. Please… please don’t hurt me.”  
  
Clark leaned over and touched Lex’s face. He woke abruptly and jumped backward so fast that he fell over the side of the bed. Clark caught him before he hit the ground, though, and pulled him back into bed.  
  
“That… that was kind of a bad dream, huh, Lex?”  
  
“It’s better than what I usually get when I try to sleep,” Lex muttered, turning on his side towards the window.   
  
Clark frowned and rubbed Lex’s back. He’d never known that Lex had nightmares before. “What do you usually get?”  
  
“Goodnight, Clark,” Lex replied peevishly, punching a pillow. He pulled it under his head and curled his legs up.  
  
Clark pouted and lay back down, staying awake a while longer so that he could watch Lex.  
  


***

  
  
“Do you hear that?”   
  
Clark turned to Lex, who was looking around with wide eyes. Clark had thought that maybe if he escorted Lex back to the castle, he would be able to see the ghosts in action, but so far he hadn’t seen or heard a thing.  
  
“I don’t hear anything, Lex.” Clark crooked his mouth and winced at the distraught expression that was slowly taking over Lex’s features. Clark hoped that Lex hadn’t meant it when he said he doubted his sanity. “Where is the sound coming from?”  
  
“Everywhere,” Lex said, his voice barely audible. He shivered as they walked through the halls. “Can… you hear the knocking?”  
  
“No. What are they saying?” Clark frowned when Lex just shook his head. Did that mean he couldn’t make it out? Clark had never seen Lex looking so unnerved. He did have his long leather coat on, but he still looked small and fragile and cold. Clark began to move closer to Lex when he saw a spear working its way out of its placing on the wall. “Uh… Lex?”  
  
“Clark, I… have to get out of here.”  
  
Suddenly the spear came flying at Lex’s head, and Clark sped in front of him, blocking Lex from harm. The spirits apparently weren’t satisfied by the spear, however. When he and Lex rose from the floor, swords and axes that Clark recognized from the Arms Room were on their way towards them. Clark slipped his arms around Lex from behind.  
  
“Run!”  
  
“I can’t! Don’t you understand that I _can’t_?” Lex screamed over his shoulder. Clark’s eyes bulged, but then he realized that Lex was trying to talk to the ghosts. He pushed Lex to the floor again and the weapons broke against his back, just as the spear had. Then he got up and pushed Lex with him as they ran out of the castle. He didn’t think Lex had noticed the weapons breaking against him, but Lex hadn’t said anything, so he wasn’t too worried about that.  
  
“Lex?”  
  
The older man panted and looked up at Clark. His expression was somewhat abashed.  
  
“Lex, what do they want from you?”  
  
Lex shook his head. “Clark…”  
  
Clark sighed and put his arm around Lex’s shoulders. “C’mon. I want to get you back home.”  
  
Lex cupped the back of his head and slid his hand forward slowly. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be. If you can’t, you can’t,” Clark said firmly. The last thing he wanted to do right now was be obsessive over Lex’s secrets like Lana was over his own. Instead, he pulled Lex to him in a tight hug. He could hear Lex sighing as he raised his own arms to embrace Clark.  
  


***

  
  
“Okay.” Chloe trotted into the Kent kitchen and sat at the table where Clark and Lex were sitting. “I went over to the haunted mansion with my PKE meter and my proton pack to check things out.”  
  
Clark frowned. “C’mon, Chloe. Stop joking around.”  
  
“Fine. I don’t have a proton pack.” She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a busted up Walkman. “But I do have a PKE meter, and I’m afraid you’re off the charts at the castle.”  
  
“So… does that actually mean there are ghosts?” Lex asked skeptically. “Or just that there is a large amount of psychokinetic energy at the castle?”  
  
Chloe shrugged. “I’m a reporter, not a ghostbuster.”  
  
“But you have a _PKE meter_ ,” Clark protested.  
  
“A cute guy gave it to me when I was interning in Metropolis this summer,” Chloe explained. She turned back to Lex. “Now, it looks mostly like a poltergeist, but like you said, it could also be someone with telekinesis. If it’s the latter, we need to find the person responsible and take care of them. If it’s the former, you might want to call a medium, or something.”  
  
Lex looked at Clark in frustration. Clark raised his hands. He had no idea what to do either.  
  
Chloe sighed and continued, “Some poltergeists are just playful-“   
  
“They chucked sharp objects at Lex’s head! Made his fireplace explode! Shoved him off a ledge! That doesn’t seem playful to me,” Clark complained letting a bit of sarcasm slip into his voice.  
  
Chloe rolled her eyes. “ _Or_ they can be the result of spirits who died a violent death. Now that could be when the castle was put here in Smallville or maybe the spirits came over from Scotland. Even worse, it could be any object that you’ve acquired recently that’s been cursed or the spirit has attached itself to.”  
  
Lex rubbed his forehead. “Happen to know any exorcists?”  
  
“That’s for possessions. I’ll give you a few numbers, but I can’t vouch for their effectiveness. This is a little out of my area of specialty,” Chloe apologized. “Unless I can find that cute guy, and he really seemed to know what he was doing… but we were both using fake IDs at the time. So.”   
  
“Figures. Thanks, Chloe.” Lex nodded to her.  
  
She shrugged. “I’ll keep researching the plot for stories of violent deaths. Can you tell me anything else about the ghosts?”  
  
Lex started to shake his head, but Clark interrupted. ”They keep asking Lex to tell them something.”  
  
Chloe screwed up her lips. “Tell them something? Like what?”  
  
“It… it’s just the one, Chloe,” Lex admitted, practically through his teeth. “He keeps saying, ‘Show him. Tell him.’”  
  
“Yeah?” Chloe started to take notes. “Any visual cues? Did you see what the guy looked like?”  
  
“He was young. Late teens to early twenties. Had a mop of blond hair and piercing green eyes,” Lex described quietly. Clark’s eyes locked on his face. He hadn’t been aware that Lex remembered anything from his encounters with the ghosts or from his dreams. Lex continued, pointedly not looking at Clark. “An attractive guy. I’m pretty sure he was murdered… shot point blank… by someone he knew. He was completely obsessed with this person. It was someone who he loved more than anything or anyone else.”  
  
“That’s… specific.” Chloe tilted her head.  
  
Lex spread his hands and looked down. Clark reached over to massage the curve of Lex’s shoulder.   
  
“Anything else?” Chloe asked, frowning a little and looking between the two of them.  
  
“No,” Lex said, sucking in his cheeks.  
  
Once Chloe had left to go do more digging, Clark hopped up and clapped his hands together. “Come with me. We can go milk the cows together.”  
  
“Sounds exciting.” Lex got up and followed Clark out to the field. Lex did not sound excited. Lex sounded worn down.  
  


***

  
  
Several days later, Clark was more concerned about his dad tossing Lex out on his ear any minute than Lex being taken out by crazy ghosts. Lex had requested that one of his servants bring him over some personal effects so that he could continue going to work, but as the days went by, and although Clark and Lex were enjoying their sleepovers, the tension in the house kept building.  
  
When Lex came into the living room and declared that he was packed, Clark was not surprised, but he jumped up from where he had been doing his calculus homework and begged, “Lex! Wait. You can’t go back to the castle.”  
  
“No, I can’t. I can’t go there. I can’t stay here. I’m going to my loft in Metropolis,” Lex explained, putting his hand on Clark’s shoulder gently. The pout on Clark’s face was difficult to ignore. “Look, I’ll still come visit. I promise. I’ve just been working in Metropolis, living here. It’s not working out very well.”  
  
“You seemed to be doing okay until the ghost came,” Clark protested, looking away sulkily. Lex squeezed his shoulder. Clark back at him suddenly, scowling deeply. “I’ll come with you.”  
  
“No, you won’t,” Lex replied before Clark’s parents could have a coronary. “You have school. And your family. You can’t-“  
  
“Why else did you think I stayed after this summer? If you go, I go!”  
  
“Clark!” Martha came over to Clark, who turned around swiftly.  
  
“Nothing’s changed since I left the last time. Only Lex came back, so he could make it bearable to be me. If he’s not here, I can’t be. I wish you guys understood.”  
  
“There’s nothing to understand,” Jonathan boomed. “You’re our son. You’re underaged. You’re staying here.”  
  
“ _You_ know you can’t make me stay!” Clark shouted back.  
  
Lex backed away from them, pressing his lips together and frowning. The Kents continued arguing, and he took another step towards the door.   
  
Ignoring his parents, Clark rushed to his side. “No! Please, Lex, please don’t leave.”  
  
“Clark!” Lex’s face fell, and he looked at the Kents. Martha, distraught at the idea of her son leaving. Jonathan, furious at Lex for threatening to take Clark away. “If you knew why that ghost is bothering me, Clark, you wouldn’t be so eager for me to stay.”  
  
Clark hugged him tightly. “What did you do, kill the guy?”  
  
“No.” Lex laughed softly. He patted Clark’s back.   
  
“Just tell me, Lex. I won’t be mad.”  
  
“I don’t think that it’s fair to let you promise that, not knowing what’s going on.” Lex pulled him back and looked Clark in the eye. “It could be anything.”  
  
“You haven’t killed anyone. How bad could it be?” Clark wanted to hug him again, but the moment had passed and his parents were staring at them. “Oh, if you tell me will the ghost leave you alone? Then you could definitely stay! Just tell me what it is. I won’t care.”  
  
Lex shook his head. “If I show you, I don’t know that staying will be an option.” He licked his lower lip. “C’mon, Clark. I’ll show you.”  
  
Lex motioned with his hand and headed for the door.  
  
“Clark,” Jonathan interrupted briskly. “Promise me that you’ll come back.”  
  
“Dad-“  
  
“Promise. Promise me, that if you’re gonna take off, you’ll let us know first.” Jonathan crossed his arms. Martha stepped behind her husband and covered her mouth.  
  
Lex sighed audibly. “Promise them, Clark. Whatever’s causing you to feel as though Smallville is unbearable… they’re your parents. They love you, and that means something. It always means _something_ when someone loves you.”  
  
Clark frowned at him and rolled his eyes.  
  
“I mean it,” Lex whispered.  
  
Clark tilted his head to the side and went to hug his mother. “I promise. I won’t leave without telling you again.”  
  
Jonathan patted his back and gave Lex a nod. Lex took a deep breath, and when Martha let go, Clark followed him to his car. The trip to the castle was silent.  
  


***

  
  
“Okay, so… this room?” Clark asked when they had stopped in front of a tall mahogany door.  
  
“Clark, I won’t ask that you forgive me.” Lex looked up at him with wide eyes. He could hear the voice urging him on. That crazy, bitter ghost. “But I’d like to ask that you not despise me.”  
  
“Lex, you’re starting to really scare me.” Clark screwed up his brows. Lex turned and unlocked the door, then let Clark take the lead. When he stepped inside the room, Clark finally understood. Lex hung back and remained quiet, waiting for the sight to sink in as Clark descended the short stairway into the dimly lit chamber.  
  
What Clark noticed first was the huge framed picture of himself on the wall. Multiple framed pictures… and one of his family. There were little squashed bullets hanging from the ceiling like Christmas decorations, and a diagram depicting how the bullets had likely come into that condition. Clark reached up to touch the bullets, then noticed the copies of drawings from the Kawatche caves, and in front of them, there was a monitor that appeared to have a screensaver of the key to his ship. Hanging articles about the meteor shower. Multiple renderings about the trajectory of the meteorites. A Nicodemis flower under glass.  
  
Clark felt himself spinning around as he took it all in. His heart nearly stopped as he noticed yet another monitor, this one playing on repeat a rendering of the accident on the Loeb Bridge. Lex knew. Lex _must_ have known. Clark stepped backward. He felt it. A piece of Kryptonite.  
  
Clark winced and stepped backward. “Lex, what is this? What is _all this_?”   
  
“Even now it’s hard to explain. When I was a child, I used to take St. George’s box and pretend that I put all of my fears into it.” Lex descended the stairs slowly, watching Clark as though he might bolt. “I started this room when I came to Smallville with a similar idea; I could lock my obsessions up in here, and thus they could never get out to hurt anyone, but somehow they’ve managed to haunt me nonetheless.”  
  
Clark tried to break for the door before the Kryptonite dropped him to his knees. The door slammed shut, and then he heard it, a desperate voice:  
  
 _tell me Jacob please just tell me I love you please_  
  
The door seemed to throb, the sound of knocking and yelling, and whisper surrounded them, and Clark looked back at Lex angrily, but only saw worry on his friend’s face. “Your obsessions? I asked you to stop investigating me!”  
  
“And I did! I just… I can’t let it go, Clark. I don’t know why, but I tried to just shut it up in here, never to let it touch you. My father would have investigated, stopped at nothing to find out what he wanted to know, but I don’t’ want to be like that. I meant for this chamber to be St. George’s box, and now it’s more like Blackbeard’s chest. I didn’t mean for this to get so out of hand!”  
  
“And what, you were just going to run away to Metropolis?” Clark asked incredulously. “You were… you were going to leave me instead of telling me?”  
  
“I…” Lex walked over to a table and leaned against it. Clark couldn’t follow because of the Kryptonite. For a moment, he’d wondered if Lex had meant to trap him, but Lex clearly didn’t realize that it was affecting him. “I’m trying to protect you from me. The last time I let my curiosity get out of control, Nixon came after your family. I can’t let that happen again. I know that you have secrets, Clark, and you’re entitled to your personal life. I understand that.”  
  
“And you were gonna leave me because you can’t mind your own business?”  
  
“I just want what’s best for you, Clark. What I have locked up in here… it’s _not_ all about you. It’s mostly about me… and the meteor shower and all of the other strange things that happen in this town. It’s all I can do not to draw my own blood and examine it until I have all of the answers-“  
  
 _tell me Jacob please I want to hear it please Jacob I love you_  
  
Lex sighed anxiously and continued. “You don’t understand what this is like for me. It’s like telling Chloe there’s a conspiracy afoot and then telling her she’s not allowed to investigate it. It’s painful, and there are so many things that have been kept from me about myself. I have to know, but I have to stop myself, and the only reason I have this dilemma…”  
  
Clark slid onto the floor of the room, as far from the chunk of meteor rock as he could get. “What? What’s the reason you have this dilemma?”  
  
Lex looked up and met Clark’s eyes. His expression was that of a doomed man.  
  
“I love you.”  
  
Clark blinked in surprise. The ghost’s whispering stopped, and everything was quiet. “You…”   
  
“Love you. From the moment I saw you. I thought I could write it off. Give you a flashy gift and have done with it.” Lex shook his head and laughed. “However, the more time I spent with you, the more and more I needed to spend time with you. The more I needed to know everything about you, especially when I started suspecting that you were a mutant like me. I needed to know everything to protect you, but… mostly I needed to know everything about you because it was _you_ ”  
  
Clark didn’t quite know what he was feeling. Maybe it was nausea from the Kryptonite, or joy that Lex _loved_ him, or anger that Lex had kept all of this from him from the beginning.  
  
He turned his head and threw up.   
  
“Ugh. Yuck.” His lips curled, and he put his hand on his stomach. He’d never puked before and that was seriously gross!  
  
Lex stood and went to the far end of the room, his face and posture gone ridged. “You can probably try the door. I imagine now that Toby’s gotten me to spill my insides for you, and you’ve done same, he’ll release us.”  
  
Clark wiped his mouth with his hand. If only he could go over to Lex… but it just hurt too much. “Lex, don’t-.”  
  
“I told you that I loved you, and you became physically ill. What else is there to say?” Lex turned and bowed his head so that Clark could no longer see his face. He continued, softly, “I understand, Clark. Believe me, I understand. You don’t have to feel guilty. This certainly a scenario I considered.”  
  
“No… Lex, come here.”  
  
Lex didn’t move. Clark had to get away from the meteor rock before he passed out… Well if that happened at least Lex would know that he was really sick and not just sickened by him. He crawled up the stairs and tried the door.  
  
“Oh, cripes. It’s still locked. Are we stuck in here?”  
  
“Trapped is more like it.” Lex was as still as a stone. “All of the servants have been dismissed. They won’t return until they’re called.”  
  
“Then call them!”  
  
Lex pulled out his cell phone. “No signal,” he said unsurprised.  
  
Clark groaned.  
  
“I’m sorry I got you into this, Clark. Your parents will probably come for us when you don’t return, and I don’t answer my phone.” He went to sit by a white desk and stared at the wall.  
  
Clark curled up against the wall. The silence stretched out as they sat by themselves, looking away from each other. Clark had no idea how much time had passed when he said, “Lex, I have to get out of here.”  
  
“I don’t know what to tell you. The only way out is that door.”  
  
“Lex, I think I’m gonna die. This really hurts.”  
  
Lex turned his head and frowned deeply. “What is it?”  
  
“C-can you move that to the other side if the room?” Clark pleaded, pointing to the Kryptonite.   
  
Lex got up and walked over to the meteor rock. “Why? What is it?”  
  
“Just please do it?”  
  
Lex licked his lips, lifted the glass cover, and took the rock to the other side of the room. “Now what?”  
  
Clark took a deep breath and stood up. “Thanks.”  
  
“Was… was this making you sick?” Lex set the Kryptonite down and took a tentative step towards Clark.  
  
“Well, it sure wasn’t _you_ making me sick, Lex,” Clark scoffed gently. He knew that he’d really hurt Lex’s feelings just now, without meaning to at all. It must have been so hard to bring him here. Must have been so hard hiding it. “C’mere, Lex.”  
  
Lex certainly didn’t need to be asked twice. He crossed the length of the room and came up the steps to meet Clark, who put his hands on Lex’s shoulders.  
  
“I don’t hate you. And I didn’t get sick because of… of what you said, okay?”  
  
Lex looked up at him sadly. “I still have to go. You know that. I’ve tried not to do this, but I can’t-“  
  
“Shut up. Just listen. You gave your thing, and now I’m gonna give mine.” Clark took another deep breath, bracing himself. “You said you love me… and I’m glad. Because I wasn’t kidding at all when I said you’re the only thing keeping me here. I’d kiss you if I hadn’t just barfed because of that rock.”  
  
Lex’s face slowly lit up into a grin.  
  
“I love you, too, Lex. I can’t stand to see you go. I need you,” Clark admitted. “And this?” He looked over the room again. Lex looked with him, and Clark felt Lex’s shoulders tense. “This is the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.”  
  
Before Lex could protest, Clark wrapped his arms around Lex, hugging him tightly. He shook his head and pressed their cheeks together.  
  
“I’m sorry about-“  
  
“Hush. You already apologized for this. Don’t get me wrong; I’m kinda pissed at you, but... I get why you wanted to hide. And I’ve known Chloe long enough to get that some people are just crazy about investigating weird stuff.” Clark frowned. He’d never been more temped in his life to tell someone his secret. Lex had all but put it together, even if he didn’t realize it yet.   
  
Clark pulled back, put his hand on the door, and ripped it open. Lex’s eyes widened, and he stared at the door for a long moment before looking up at Clark.  
  
“And you were right,” Clark whispered. He dropped the door and felt a sudden wind suck all of the heat out of the room. Lex shivered and stared up at him. Clark shifted on his feet then whined, “Say something!”  
  
“I love you,” Lex said, still amazed.  
  
Clark grinned and put his arms around Lex. “You were right about my powers, and… the bridge. About us. We have a destiny. I won’t let us be apart while we’re both alive. But you’ve got to stop collecting this information.”  
  
“I-“  
  
“I mean, if you do, my picture needs to be in a different room, at least!”  
  
Lex grinned again. “That much I can do.”  
  
Clark moved his hand to the doorway and felt some kind of barrier there. He took one last look at the room. “One more thing… you’re a step away from finding this out, but I’d like you to hear it from me. I don’t want you going all nuts over this because someone got to you before I did, or you found out the wrong way.”  
  
”Clark?” Lex tilted his head, listening intently.  
  
Clark met his eyes. “I’m not a mutant. I'm an alien.”   
  
Just when Clark didn’t think that Lex’s eyes could get any wider, they went completely round.  
  
“I didn’t keep this from you because… I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I was scared, like you. Not that you’d do anything bad, but that you might hate me-“  
  
“That would never happen,” Lex insisted, finding his voice. He reached behind Clark’s head and forced their lips together.   
  
Clark squeaked, hoping that he didn’t taste too nasty. Lex didn’t seem to mind; he just kept kissing Clark and kissing and kissing. Then Clark could feel Lex’s hands cupping his ass and his own cock springing up to meet Lex. Lex chuckled and pulled away for a moment to smile at him widely.  
  
“I’ve never… kissed anyone like that.” Clark looked down at the tent in his pants.  
  
“Surely with Lana-“  
  
“She set my heat vision off. She never gave me a boner,” Clark said bluntly.  
  
Lex laughed out loud. “Heat vision?”  
  
“Oh, I’ll have to explain that one to you. What have you seen so far? The strength and stuff?”  
  
“I saw a car hit you. And those bullets?”  
  
“Yeah, invulnerability. Except… to the rocks.”  
  
Lex nodded seriously. Clark looked around.  
  
“Hey, Toby! We fessed up. Can we go now? I wanna brush my teeth so we can make out properly.” He jumped when he saw the man. Young and handsome, and as Lex had described, with blond hair and green eyes. Someone had put several bullets in his chest. He crossed his arms and smiled. It was a dismal sight, seeing that white dead face crack a grin.  
  
Lex took Clark’s hand and led the way out of the room. “I’m going to have to destroy that…”  
  
“No, not really, but like I said, cut out the obvious connection to me, and it’ll be fine. It’s not like people would question you studying the meteor shower or the caves on your own.”  
  
“You have a connection to the caves? You really do?” Lex seemed to bubble over with excitement.  
  
“I’ll tell you everything,” Clark murmured, squeezing Lex’s hand softly and leaning over to kiss his neck.  
  


***

  
  
Clark sat hand in hand with Lex on the sofa at The Talon, smiling and chatting softly with him. His parents had been an easier sell than he’d thought, maybe because Lex had brought him back to them safely. Whether the rest of the town would accept it… well, Clark didn’t much care.  
  
Chloe had later found some old news articles that lead her to the story of two gay men in the 1930s, Jacob Cobb and Toby Tenner, who had been close friends. However, one day Jacob had come after Toby, chasing him out into the field and shooting him dead. Later that evening, Jacob was found hanging from a rope in his barn.  
  
Contacting a few of Chloe’s sources, Lex called in a psychic, who visited the house where Jacob Cobb had lived and coaxed his spirit into meeting Toby at the castle, where the two of them had met, seeming to forgive each other before they disappeared. After that day, Lex never saw either one of them again.  
  
“Lex, do you think we would have ended up like that? Destroying ourselves?” Clark asked anxiously. Lex, being the weirdo that he was, considered the question instead of just reassuring him.  
  
“I think anything is possible. Granted they had quite a bit of pressure on them from the entire town. Imagine feeling that strongly about someone in a conservative, 1930s farming community. I don’t know how understanding I would be if you married some simple, undeserving country brat. Still, I wasn’t particularly going down a good road in coping with my feelings for you,” Lex said seriously. He rubbed Clark’s arm.  
  
“Once I tapped you on the head to make sure you didn’t see me use my powers,” Clark winced as he said it, then winced again when he saw the wounded expression on Lex’s face. “I’m so sorry.”  
  
“Well, we both know that I can take a good deal of physical abuse… Please don’t do that again, though. I don’t need any more head trauma.”  
  
Clark grinned and leaned over to kiss Lex’s soft scalp. He’d fallen in love with touching it lately, and Lex seemed to be getting used to it.   
  
“I’ll never hurt you again,” Clark promised.  
  
Lex shook his head. “You don’t have to make a grand statement like that. You might hurt me, and I might hurt you. Regardless, we can still do our best to put each other first and love one another.”  
  
“You do better at that than I do, Lex. You were ready to leave for my sake.”  
  
“It was also a bit of cowardice.”  
  
“Which you faced the minute you thought it would hurt me.” Clark kissed Lex’s head again. “You don’t fool me. You’re an awesome boyfriend.”  
  
Lex dipped his head and grinned.  
  
“So are you gonna come over for dinner on Sunday?”  
  
Lex thinned his lips. “I don’t know that it would be such a good idea, Clark. Your parents-“  
  
“Are gonna have to start treating you like part of the family and not some unwelcome guest they can’t wait to get rid of,” Clark argued.  
  
Lex stared up at Clark as though he was in awe, grinning lopsidedly, and both of their hearts pounded wildly. It was new and frightening, but as their lips met, neither of them could care less what anyone looking thought. From now on, no matter where they were, if they had each other, neither Clark nor Lex would be without a home.


End file.
